N. Korea Women's Football Club to Compete on South Korean Soil

(MENAFN) A North Korean women's football club is set to make a rare appearance on South Korean soil later this month, marking one of the most significant inter-Korean sports exchanges in recent memory.

Naegohyang Women's FC — a 39-member delegation comprising 27 players and 12 staff — will touch down at Incheon International Airport via Beijing on May 17, according to a South Korean news agency. The club is bound for Suwon, a city roughly 30 kilometers south of Seoul, where it will face Suwon FC Women in the semifinals of the AFC Women's Champions League on May 20 at Suwon Stadium.

The Korea Football Association (KFA), South Korea's governing body for football and futsal, confirmed the fixture. Should either side advance, the championship final is scheduled for May 23 at the same venue.

Naegohyang enters the semifinal with momentum — having already dismantled Suwon FC Women 3-0 during the group stage on November 12 in Myanmar.

The visit carries notable historical weight. North Korea's women's national team last competed on South Korean soil in 2013, when it participated in the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Women's Football Championship — a tournament South Korea also hosted in 2005. While Seoul again staged the EAFF event in both 2019 and 2025, Pyongyang withdrew from both editions without explanation.

North Korea's women's program has nonetheless demonstrated its regional dominance: at the 2014 Asian Games, held in Incheon, the squad defeated Japan to claim gold.

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